Rerouting bus data signals from faulty signal carriers to existing healthy signal carriers

ABSTRACT

A first set of signal carriers of a plurality of signal carriers may be determined to be faulty. The first set of signal carriers may be for transmitting a first set of respective lane signals of a plurality of lane signals. A second set of signal carriers of the plurality of signal carriers may be identified as not faulty. The second set of signal carriers may be for transmitting a second set of lane signals of the plurality of lane signals. Based on the determining and identifying, one or more of the first set of lane signals may be routed from the first set of signal carriers through a first subset of the second set of signal carriers, the routing of the one or more of the first set of lane signals may cause a bandwidth capacity to increase to a highest available bandwidth.

BACKGROUND

This disclosure relates generally to input/output (I/O) buses used tointerconnect peripheral devices in computing systems, and morespecifically, to re-routing lane signals from faulty signal carriers toexisting and healthy signal carriers.

A Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) bus is a highperformance I/O standard serial bus that interconnects endpoints. Apoint-to-point physical connection between two PCIe endpoints (e.g.,Ethernet, USB, graphics devices, etc.) is called a link. A link is usedto transfer I/O data serially in packets. The PCIe link may include oneor more signal lines called lanes. A single lane may include two pairsof signal carriers (e.g., fiber, wire, etc.) for transmitting respectivedifferentiating lane signals. One lane signal (or differentiating pairof lane signals) may be utilized for receiving data and one differentialpair of lane signals may be utilized for transmitting data. Eachdifferential pair of lane signals may be capable of transmitting orreceiving data one bit at a time. A link consisting of one lane iscalled an x1 link, and has a link width of one lane. A link consistingof two lanes is called an x2 link, and has a link width of two lanes.PCIe specifications may allow for link widths of x1, x2, x4, x8, and x16lanes. During a process called “link training,” two peripheral devicesmay negotiate link parameters. For example, the devices may determinelink width capacity (e.g., bandwidth), link speed, lane polarity, etc.

SUMMARY

Various embodiments of the present disclosure may include acomputer-implemented method, a system, and a computer program productfor routing lane signals from faulty signal carriers to healthy signalcarriers to increase to a highest available bandwidth. A first set ofsignal carriers of a plurality of signal carriers may be determined tobe faulty. The first set of signal carriers may be for transmitting afirst set of respective lane signals of a plurality of lane signals. Theplurality of signal carriers may form a plurality of sequentiallyordered lanes. The plurality of lanes may comprise a link for use inintercommunication between two or more endpoints of a computing device.A second set of signal carriers of the plurality of signal carriers maybe identified as not faulty. The second set of signal carriers may befor transmitting a second set of lane signals of the plurality of lanesignals. Based on the determining and identifying, one or more of thefirst set of lane signals may be routed from the first set of signalcarriers through a first subset of the second set of signal carriers,the routing of the one or more of the first set of lane signals maycause a bandwidth capacity to increase to a highest available bandwidth.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is an example illustration of a healthy PCIe environment.

FIG. 1B is an example illustration of the PCIe environment of FIG. 1Aand what the resulting link width would be if particular fibers becamefaulty, according to embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example computing system, according toembodiments.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example computing system, according toembodiments.

FIG. 4 is an example diagram of a PCIe link, according to embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of an example process for detecting one or morefaulty signal carriers and re-routing the respective signalsaccordingly.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an illustration showing how lane signalsmay be re-routed from faulty signal carriers to existing healthy signalcarriers, according to embodiments.

FIG. 7A is an illustration of a faulty PCIe environment, and how theconfiguration of each signal may occur after various faults have beendetected, according to embodiments.

FIG. 7B is a diagram of the faulty PCIe environment of FIG. 7A,illustrating how each of the healthy signal carriers may be utilized toreceive re-routed lane signals.

While the invention is amenable to various modifications and alternativeforms, specifics thereof have been shown by way of example in thedrawings and will be described in detail. It should be understood,however, that the intention is not to limit the invention to theparticular embodiments described. On the contrary, the intention is tocover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling withinthe spirit and scope of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to I/O buses used tointerconnect peripheral devices in computing systems, and morespecifically, to re-routing lane signals from faulty signal carriers toexisting and healthy signal carriers. While the present disclosure isnot necessarily limited to such application, various aspects of thedisclosure may be appreciated through a discussion of various examplesusing this context.

In some examples, bus systems (e.g., PCIe) may utilize optical fiber asthe signal carrier (i.e., medium of data transfer) between endpoints.Fiber or other mediums, however, may be fragile and consequently besubject to fault or breakage due to its physical structure. If a fiberis faulty (e.g., the fiber is severely bent or breaks), thecorresponding lane signal in which the fiber houses may not function andparameter setup (e.g., link training) may either operate at a degradedlink width or even fail. For example, FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate howeven a single faulty fiber may cause a severely degraded link width.FIG. 1A is an example illustration of a healthy PCIe environment,according to embodiments. As illustrated in FIG. 1A, there may be 8 PCIelane signals (Lanes 0-7) within a link, 8 healthy corresponding opticalfibers (or 8 pairs of fibers), and a resulting x8 PCIe link width.

FIG. 1B is an example illustration of the PCIe environment of FIG. 1Aand what the resulting link width would be if particular fibers becamefaulty, according to embodiments. FIG. 1B illustrates that the lower thefiber number that becomes faulty, the lower the link width will be. Forexample, if fiber 8 became faulty, the resulting PCIe link width wouldbe x4. However, if a lower numbered fiber, fiber 2 became faulty, theresulting PCIe link width would decrease to an even lower link widthcapacity at x1. Further, if Fiber 1 has become faulty, the resultingPCIe link width will be x0 (i.e., a particular link will be down and notbe utilized at all), even though there are still 7 existing and healthyfibers in good condition (fibers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8). Because PCIespecifications may require lanes to be used sequentially and may onlyallow for link widths of x1, x2, x4, x8, and x16, any damage to anysingle fiber may cause the link width to decrease by half of itsoriginal link width. Therefore, the link width that was operating at x1in FIG. 1A, will now decrease by half to the next lowest PCIespecification, which is x0 (i.e., the entire link is unusable) as shownin FIG. 1B if fiber 2 becomes faulty. This may cause the system to runinefficiently (e.g., decreased bandwidth), as the other existing fibersare not utilized. Accordingly, embodiments of the present disclosure aredirected towards determining existing and healthy signal carriers aftera fault such that the corresponding lane signals can be re-routed fromthe faulty (e.g., unhealthy) signal carriers to existing healthy signalcarriers so as to increase link width and consequently system bandwidth.For example, using FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, if fiber 1 becomes faulty, lane0's signals may be rerouted from fiber 1 to fiber 2 to maintain the X1link width, as opposed to having the entire link become unusable (i.e.,x0).

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example computing system, according toembodiments. The computing system 200 may include a processor (CPU) 208,one or more endpoints 210A, 210B, 210C, 210D, a root complex 202, amemory 206, a switch 204, a PCIe-PCI(x) bridge 212, legacy endpoints214A and 214B, all of which are communicatively coupled, directly orindirectly, for inter-component communication via PCIe links 216, amemory bus 218, and system buses 220.

In various embodiments, the computing system 200 is a multi-usermainframe computer system, a single-user system, or a server computer orsimilar device that has little or no direct user interface, but receivesrequests from other computer systems (clients). In other embodiments,the computing system 200 may be implemented as a desktop computer,portable computer, laptop or notebook computer, tablet computer, pocketcomputer, telephone, smart phone, or any other suitable type ofelectronic device.

The computing system 200 may include one or more general-purposeprogrammable central processing units (CPUs), herein genericallyreferred to as the processor 208. In an embodiment, the computing system200 may contain multiple processors; however, in another embodiment, thecomputing system 200 may alternatively be a single CPU device. Eachprocessor 208 executes instructions stored in the memory 206.

Although the computing system 200 shown in FIG. 2 illustrates particularbus structures (PCIe link 216, memory bus 218, and system bus 220)providing a direct communication path among the processor 208, thememory 206, the endpoints 210, the root complex 202, the legacyendpoints 214, switch 204, and the PCIe-PCI bridge 212; in alternativeembodiments the computing system 200 may include different buses orcommunication paths, which may be arranged in any of various forms, suchas point-to-point links in hierarchical, star or web configurations,multiple hierarchical buses, parallel and redundant paths, or any otherappropriate type of configuration.

In an embodiment, the memory 206 may include a random-accesssemiconductor memory, storage device, or storage medium (either volatileor non-volatile) for storing or encoding data and programs. In anotherembodiment, the memory 206 represents the entire virtual memory of thecomputing system 200, and may also include the virtual memory of othercomputer systems coupled to the computing system 200 or connected via anetwork. The memory 206 may be a single monolithic entity, but in otherembodiments the memory 206 may include a hierarchy of caches and othermemory devices. For example, memory may exist in multiple levels ofcaches, and these caches may be further divided by function, so that onecache holds instructions while another holds non-instruction data, whichis used by the processor 208. Memory 206 may be further distributed andassociated with different CPUs or sets of CPUs, as is known in anyvarious so-called non-uniform memory access (NUMA) computerarchitectures. The memory 206 may store all or a portion of componentsand data configured to, for example, detect faulty signal carriers, asfurther discussed in FIG. 5. In embodiments, the components and data mayinclude instructions or statements that execute on the processor 308 orinstructions or statements that are interpreted by instructions orstatements that execute the processor 308 to carry out the functions asfurther described below. In another embodiment, the components and datamay be implemented in hardware via semiconductor devices, chips, logicalgates, circuits, circuit cards, and/or other physical hardware devicesin lieu of, or in addition to, a processor-based system.

In various embodiments, a root complex 202 (e.g., Central ElectronicsComplex (CEC)) component generates transaction requests on behalf of theprocessor 208. In response to processor 208 commands, the root complex202 may generate configuration, memory, and I/O requests. The rootcomplex 202 may transmit and receive packets of data to or fromcorresponding ports and forward the packets to the memory 206 orprocessor 208. In some embodiments, the root complex 202 may includemultiple ports in which packets of data may be routed from one port toanother (e.g., peer-to-peer transactions). In various embodiments, theroot complex 202 may be utilized to implement central system resources(e.g., hot plug controllers, power management controller, interruptcontroller, error detection and correction logic, etc.).

In embodiments, a switch 204 may route bus traffic and establishes apoint-to-point connection between any two devices (e.g., endpoint 210Band endpoint 210C). The switch 204 may forward data packets in variousmanners. For example, data may be forwarded using address-based routing,ID routing, or implicit routing. The switches 204 may forward alltransactions from ingress ports to egress ports. In embodiments, theswitch 204 may include ports to determine a priority with which toforward data packets from ingress ports to egress ports.

In embodiments, endpoints 210 (210A, 210B, 210C, 210D) may be the actualperipheral devices that request or complete transactions. For example,the endpoints 210 may be Ethernet, USB, or graphics cards. In someembodiments, the computing system 200 may include legacy endpoints 214Aand 214B. Legacy endpoints 214 may support I/O transactions and lockedtransaction semantics. In some embodiments, legacy endpoints 214 maysupport legacy interrupt generation using message requests (e.g.,interrupt-capable legacy devices).

In embodiments, the PCIe-PCI(x) bridge 212 is a bridge between PCIefabric and a PCI or PCI-X hierarchy. Accordingly, the PCIe-PCIx bridge212 may translate PCIe signals back into Peripheral ComponentInterconnect (PCI) signals or Peripheral Component Interconnect Extended(PCIx) signals. This may effectively allow PCIe or PCIx devices tocoexist with PCIe devices within the same system.

FIG. 2 is intended to depict representative components of the computingsystem 200. Individual components, however, may have greater complexitythan represented in FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, components other than or inaddition to those shown may be present, and the number, type, andconfiguration of such components may vary. For example, the computingsystem 200 may include a display system for displaying information on acomputing system monitor, a storage device (e.g., disk, USB drive,etc.), or network interface. The various program components illustratedin FIG. 2 may be implemented, in various embodiments, in a number ofdifferent ways, including using various computer applications, routines,components, programs, objects, modules, data structures etc., which maybe referred to herein as “software,” “computer programs,” “firmware,” orsimply “programs.”

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example computing system 300, accordingto embodiments. The computing system 300 may include a processor 308, aroot complex 302, a PCIe-PCI(x) bridge 312, memory 306, PCIe links 316,memory bus 318, system bus 320, and one or more input/output (I/O)drawers 310. The I/O drawers 310 may include multiple endpoints 314.

In some embodiments, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the root complex 302 mayinclude a hypervisor 322. The hypervisor 322 may be a firmware programthat performs I/O and memory management. In various embodiments, thehypervisor 322 may be responsible for configuring multiplexers and/ordemultiplexers for routing lane signals from faulty signal carriers tohealthy signal carriers, as described in more detail below. In someembodiments, the hypervisor 322 may further communicate with the faultdetection module, as described in more detail below. In someembodiments, the hypervisor 322 may not necessarily configure themultiplexers and demultiplexers or communicate with the fault detectionmodule, but other system firmware may be responsible for theseoperations.

In some embodiments, the computing system 300 may be a server system(e.g., enterprise server system). In embodiments, the I/O drawers 310may be utilized to expand the I/O capabilities of servers. Accordingly,I/O drawers 310 may include several stacked I/O endpoints 314 formultiple tasks or application needs. In some embodiments, the I/Odrawers 310 may include hot plug adapter slots to add, replace, orremove computing system 300 components while the computing system 300 isrunning. The I/O drawers 310 may also include hot swap disk bays toallow for removal of a drive without shutting the computing system 300down. In some embodiments, the I/O drawers 310 may include a controllerto receive or forward I/O requests.

FIG. 4 is an example diagram of a PCIe link, according to embodiments.The PCIe link 406 may be the point-to-point physical connection betweentwo PCIe endpoints (e.g., root complex 402 and I/O drawer 404).Accordingly, data may be transferred through the PCIe link 406. The PCIelink 406 illustrated in FIG. 4 is an x2 PCIe link (link width of 2).Accordingly, the PCIe link 406 includes 2 lanes (lane 408A and 408B).

Each lane 408A and 408B may include one or more transmit signals (Tx)410A and 414A for transmitting data, and one or more receive signals(Rx) 410B and 414B for receiving data. Examples of transmit signals 410and receive signals 410B are voltages, light pulses, etc. These lanesignals represent data transfer between the root complex 402 and the I/Odrawer 404. Each of the lane signals include respective fibers (e.g.,412A, 412B, 416A, and 416B). For example, transmit signal 410A may behoused within fiber 412A, or receive signal 408B may be housed withinfiber 416B. In an example illustration, for embodiments of the presentdisclosure, fiber 412A might become faulty or break. In embodiments, thecorresponding lane 408A and its lane signals 410A and 410B may bere-routed to lane 408B such that the transmit and receive signals 410Aand 410B will be housed within fibers 416A and 416B. The transmit andreceive signals 414A and 414B may also be re-routed to a different lanesin embodiments. Re-routing is discussed in more detail below.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of an example process 500 for detecting one ormore faulty signal carriers and re-routing the respective signalsaccordingly. The process 500 may start when a configuration moduleperforms operation 502 to configure the mux and demux (multiplexer anddemultiplexer) default values. For example, lane 0 (i.e., a group oflane signals) may be initially routed to fiber 1 for initial setup usingthe demux and mux. Multiplexer and demultiplexer functions, as well asdefault values are described in more detail in FIGS. 6, 7A, and 7Bbelow.

In operation 504, a determination may be made of whether there is afault with one or more signal carriers. For example, a fault detectionmodule may infer that an optical fiber that carries a lane signal isbroken or is bent to a degree in which the lane signal is impaired. Inan illustrative example, a fiber cable connector apparatus (e.g., CXPconnector) at a receiving end may include a fault detection module(e.g., Active Optical Cable module) that detects when a voltage signalis lost or becomes degraded below a threshold. In these embodiments, areceiving end cable fiber connector may include a photodiode or otherphototransducer to convert the optical signals into electrical signals.For example, a photodiode may be connected in series with a resistor anda voltage drop over the resistor may change in relation to the amount oflight applied to the photodiode. Accordingly, a voltage threshold may bedetermined. The cable connector apparatus (e.g., the fiber connector 604of FIG. 6) may be coupled to a cable that houses each of the signalcarriers. The voltage threshold may be any suitable threshold forembodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the fault detectionmodule may determine that there is a faulty fiber when an associateddifferential pair signal strength (e.g., Rx) falls below 0.1 volts, 0.5volts, 0.7 volts, or any suitable voltage value. In these embodiments,each fiber (or group of fibers) in a cable may be associated with anidentificat(e.g., ch. 1, ion number ch. 2, etc.) and when a voltage lossis detected, the fault detection module may determine whichidentification number corresponds to the degraded lane signal.Accordingly, an inference may be made that the corresponding fiber iseither broken or severely bent based on the lane signal strength. Ifthere are no faulty signal carriers detected in operation 504, then theprocess may stop. If there are faulty signal carriers detected, thenoperation 506 may be performed.

In operation 506, consistent with some embodiments, a demultiplexer maydisable or isolate the one or more faulty signal carriers fromconfiguration and a multiplexer may re-route the corresponding signalsto existing healthy signal carriers. For example, in a PCIe environment,if a first fiber becomes faulty, which initially corresponds to a firstlane signal, then the first lane signal may be re-routed from the firstfiber to a second fiber, leaving the first fiber disabled. Operation 506is discussed in more detail below.

In operation 508, and in some embodiments, link training may beinitiated after re-routing the lane signals from faulty signal carriersto healthy signal carriers (e.g., operation 506). In some examples,physical layer system parameters may be established during link trainingsuch as link width, lane polarity, link number, lane numbers, scramblerenabled or disabled, link speed, number of fast training sequencesrequired, etc. In embodiments, link training may be initiatedautomatically as a result of a wakeup event from a low power mode, ordue to an error condition that renders a lane inoperable. For example,in embodiments, each time a fiber is found to be faulty, a link trainingsequence may be initiated. In an example illustration, a faulty fibermay be discovered, causing the link width to degrade from x8, to x2. Inembodiments, as soon as the fault is detected (operation 504) andcorresponding lanes have been re-routed (operation 508), a link trainingsession may be established to determine that a link width is now x4,instead of x2 due to process 500.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an illustration showing how lane signalsmay be re-routed from faulty signal carriers to existing healthy signalcarriers, according to embodiments. In the illustration of FIG. 6, thereis a PCIe endpoint 602, lane signals 601 (lanes 0-7), a set ofdemultiplexers 606 (606A, 606B, 606C, 606D, 606E, 606F, 606G, and 606H)that may route or re-route its corresponding lane signal(s) (e.g.,demultiplexer 606A routing input lane 7) to a set of correspondingmultiplexers 608 (608A, 608B, 608C, 608D, 608E, 608F, 608G, and 608H).The diagram of FIG. 6 also illustrates a fiber connector 604, and 8individual fibers (or groups of fibers). The fiber connector 604 mayinclude a fault detection module configured to detect whether one ormore fibers are faulty, as described above. In some embodiments, theoptical fibers 1-8 may correspond with PCIe link 216 or 316 shown inFIG. 2 and FIG. 3 respectively. FIG. 6 illustrates that eachdemultiplexer and multiplexer corresponds with respective lane signalsand fibers. In the example of FIG. 6, the demultiplexers 606 may be 1 to8 devices and the multiplexers 608 may be 8 to 1 devices. In FIG. 6,connecting lines (opened channels) are only shown from demultiplexers606A and 606H for purposes of clarity. It should be understood thatsimilar connecting lines from 606B, 606C, 606D, 606E, 606F, and 606G areincluded.

In an example illustration, Lane 7 may utilize Demux 606A to openpotential channels to the other fibers, and Fiber(s) 8 may utilize Mux608A to transmit a particular lane signal. According to someembodiments, the multiplexers 608 and/or the demultiplexers 606 may behoused within the fiber connector 604. In other embodiments, they may behoused within a separate chip, within a PCIe device, on a system planar,on a separate connector. In embodiments, when a fiber is found to befaulty, the fiber may be disabled from communication. In someembodiments, a switch within the set of multiplexers 608 ordemultiplexers 606 may open in order to isolate the correspondingsignals and consequently disable communication. For example, Lane 7signals may initially be routed to Fiber(s) 8. If Fiber(s) 8 experiencesa fault, a switch within the multiplexer may be opened to disengage acommunication pathway between Lane 7 signals and Fiber(s) 8.

In an example illustration, at a first time an initial routingconnection may be made between Lane signal 0 and fiber 1 such that fiber1 houses lane 0 lane signals. During the initial routing, although aconnection is made between Lane 0 and fiber 1, various channels may besubsequently opened via the demultiplexer 606H to any one of themultiplexers 608 in case a fault is later detected and Lane 0 needs tobe re-routed to other fibers. During initial routing, multiplexer 608Hmay receive various inputs from all of the lane signals 601 and ahypervisor or other system firmware (e.g., hypervisor 322 of FIG. 3) mayselect fiber 1 as the output. Accordingly, during initial routing lane 0signals may be housed within fiber 1. At a second time, a faultdetection module within a second fiber connector at a receiving end ofthe PCIe link 216 may determine that there is a fault with fiber 1.Accordingly, the fiber connector 604 may be at a first end of the linktransmitting the lane signals 601 and receiving a second set of lanesignals transmitted from an opposite second end of the link. Therefore,for the second set of lane signals, fault detection module 620 may beutilized to determine whether there is a fault with particular signalcarriers that correspond with the second set of lane signals. However, asecond fault detection module may be included within a second fiberconnector at the opposite second end of the PCIe link 216 to determinethat there is a fault with fiber 1 when it is used to transmit one ofthe shown lane signals 601. Using the illustration above, the hypervisor(or other system firmware) may configure the demultiplexer 606H andmultiplexer 608H to isolate lane 0 signals from fiber 1 to disable thefiber 1. The hypervisor or other system firmware may then configuredemultiplexer 606H to re-route lane 0 to fiber 2 by routing lane 0 tomux 608G.

In some embodiments, circuit configurations other than those illustratedin FIG. 6 may be responsible for the routing of lane signals from faultysignal carriers to healthy signal carriers. For example, only a set ofmultiplexers 608 may be utilized without demultiplexers 606.

For example, each of the fibers 1-8 may include 8 multiplexers that have8 input pins, 3 select input (control) pins, and one output pin. In anexample illustration, fiber 1 may include a multiplexer that has 8 inputpins that receive 8 inputs from 8 lanes (lanes 0-7). Accordingly, thehypervisor may configure the fiber 1 multiplexer to select which of thelane signals will be routed to fiber 1. If a fault is detected withfiber 1, fiber 2 may also include a corresponding multiplexer, which maythen receive Lane 0 signals and output lane 0 to fiber 2.

In some embodiments, additional demultiplexers may be utilized within ornear a downstream endpoint. For example, the link 216 may be connectedto two endpoints. The transmitting endpoint may be PCIe endpoint 602 anda second endpoint may be the receiving endpoint. If a routing of lanesignals of faulty signal carriers to healthy signals has occurredaccording to FIG. 6, the second endpoint may be unaware of the routing.Accordingly, a demultiplexer may be utilized to synchronize the routing.For example, the lane 0 signals may have been originally routed to fiber1 before a fault was detected. Consequently, the second endpoint andassociated second fiber connector may maintain this original routingsequence (lane 0 to fiber 1). When a fault occurs, a hypervisor or othersystem firmware may reroute the lane 0 signals from fiber 1 to fiber 2at the interface between the PCIe endpoint 602 and the fiber connector604. Accordingly, the second endpoint may still be configured to routethe lane 0 signals to fiber 1. Therefore, the second endpoint mayinclude a demultiplexer configured to route lane 0 signals to fiber 2.

FIG. 7A is an illustration of a faulty PCIe environment, and how theconfiguration of each signal may occur after various faults have beendetected, according to embodiments. FIG. 7A illustrates an initial x8link width in a PCIe environment (i.e., there are 8 lanes (0-7)). Thereare also 8 corresponding fibers (or groups of fibers), a column ofdemultiplexer values (Demux val), and a column of multiplexer values(Mux val). FIG. 7A illustrates that four fibers have become faulty orbroken—fibers 1, 2, 5, and 8—and four fibers remain are healthy—fibers3, 4, 6, and 7. In embodiments, the two columns of multiplexer anddemultiplexer values may correspond to hypervisor logic to enable therouting of lane signals from faulty signal carriers to healthy signalcarriers. FIG. 7A illustrates that the hypervisor or other systemfirmware logic values are represented as decimal values, whichcorrespond to the actual binary codes that the hypervisor will writeinto select registers of the multiplexers or demultiplexers. Forexample, according to FIG. 7A, lane 2 includes a mux (decimal) value of2 and demux (decimal) value of 6. Accordingly, the code 00000110 maycause the demultiplexer (e.g., demultiplexer 606F) that corresponds tolane 2 to rout lane 2 signals to fiber 6.

The demux values illustrated in FIG. 7A may accordingly represent theoutput value on the demultiplexer or the healthy fiber that needs to beselected for the routing (e.g., lane 1's demux value of 4 corresponds toselecting fiber 4 for routing as specified by the optical fiberscolumn). The mux values of FIG. 7A may represent the select inputs ofthe multiplexer or the lane signals that need to be routed (e.g., forlane 3, the mux select value is 3). The Lanes for FIG. 7A (& FIG. 7B)may initially be routed (before fault occurs) to default settings (e.g.,Lane 0 to Fiber 1, Lane 1 to Fiber 2, Lane 2 to Fiber 3, etc.).

FIG. 7B is a diagram of the faulty PCIe environment of FIG. 7A,illustrating how each of the healthy signal carriers may be utilized toreceive re-routed lane signals. FIG. 7B illustrates a PCIe endpoint 702and corresponding lanes (Lanes 0-7), whether a particular lane isre-routed 706 or not-rerouted 708 (shown by the X), a fiber connector704, and corresponding fibers 1-8 (or groups of fibers). FIG. 7Billustrates that the link width may improve from an x0 (because fiber 1became faulty, initially routed to lane 0 per pre-fault configuration)to an x4 link width. For example, Lane 0 may be re-routed to fiber 3,lane 1 may be re-routed to fiber 4, lane 2 may be re-routed to fiber 6,and lane 3 may be re-routed to fiber 7. Therefore, each of the existinghealthy fibers may be utilized to increase the link width.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A system for routing lane signals from faulty signal carriers to healthy signal carriers to increase to a highest available bandwidth, the system comprising: a computing device having a processor; at least one link for use in intercommunication between two or more endpoints of the computing device; a plurality of sequentially ordered lanes within the link, the plurality of sequentially ordered lanes housing a respective plurality of signal carriers, the link of the system progressively decreasing in link width upon a fault, a particular quantity of the decreasing in link width depends on a position of a fiber and corresponding lane that becomes faulty; a fault detection module configured to a determine that a first set of optical fiber signal carriers within a cable of the plurality of signal carriers are faulty, wherein a second set of optical fiber signal carriers within the cable are not faulty, the first set of optical signal carriers for transmitting or receiving a first set of respective lane signals of a plurality of lane signals, the determining that the first set of optical fiber signal carriers are faulty includes determining that the first set of respective lane signals are transmitting below a signal strength threshold; a first set of demultiplexers configured to disable, in response to the determining that a first set of optical fiber signal carriers are faulty, the first set of optical fiber signal carriers, the first set of demultiplexers being included with a plurality of demultiplexers that match a quantity of the sequentially ordered lanes within the link, wherein each of the plurality of demultiplexers being assigned to a distinct and different lane of the plurality of sequentially ordered lanes; wherein the fault detection module is further configured to identify that the second set of optical fiber signal carriers of the plurality of signal carriers that are within the cable are not faulty, the second set of optical fiber signal carriers for transmitting a second set of lane signals of the plurality of lane signals; and at least a multiplexer for routing, based on the determining and identifying, one or more of the first set of lane signals from the first set of optical fiber signal carriers through a first subset of the second set of optical fiber signal carriers, the routing of the one or more of the first set of lane signals causing a bandwidth capacity to increase to a highest available bandwidth based on what lane position the first set of optical fiber signal carriers were in prior to the determining that the first set of optical fiber signal carriers are faulty.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the multiplexer is further configured for routing one or more of the second set of lane signals from the first subset of the second set of optical fiber signal carriers through a second subset of the second set of optical fiber signal carriers, wherein the first subset and the second subset are not faulty optical fiber signal carriers.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the determining that the first set of optical fiber signal carriers of the plurality of signal carriers are faulty includes determining that the first set of lane signals are below a signal strength threshold corresponding to a bend of a particular degree in the first set of optical fiber signal carriers.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of signal carriers are connected to an input/output (I/O) drawer at a first end and the plurality of signal carriers are connected to a root complex at a second end, the I/O drawer including a plurality of stacked endpoints, the I/O drawer further including a plurality of hot plug adapter slots to add or remove the system components while the system is still running, and the root complex for use in generating a request on behalf of the processor of the computing device.
 5. A cable connector apparatus for routing lane signals from faulty signal carriers to healthy signal carriers to increase to a highest available bandwidth, the cable connector apparatus being a CXP connector, the cable connector apparatus comprising: a photodiode to convert a plurality of lane signals from optical to electrical signals: a fault detection module within the CXP connector configured for determining that a first set of signal carriers of a plurality of signal carriers are faulty based on a voltage threshold of the concerted plurality of lane signals, the plurality of signal carriers being housed within a cable, wherein the cable connector is coupled to the cable, the first set of signal carriers for transmitting or receiving a first set of respective lane signals of the plurality of lane signals, the plurality of signal carriers forming a plurality of sequentially ordered lanes, the plurality of lanes comprising a link for use in intercommunication between two or more endpoints of a computing device; wherein the fault detection module is further configured for identifying a second set of signal carriers of the plurality of signal carriers that are not faulty, the second set of signal carriers for transmitting a second set of lane signals of the plurality of lane signals; and at least a multiplexer configured for routing, based on the determining and identifying, one or more of the first set of lane signals from the first set of signal carriers through a first subset of the second set of signal carriers, the routing occurring within the cable and not outside of the cable, the routing of the one or more of the first set of lane signals causing a bandwidth capacity to increase to a highest available bandwidth.
 6. The cable connector apparatus of claim 5, wherein the multiplexer is further configured for routing one or more of the second set of lane signals from the first subset of the second set of signal carriers through a second subset of the second set of signal carriers.
 7. The cable connector apparatus of claim 5, further comprising a demultiplexer to establish a connection from the first set of lane signals to the plurality of signal carriers, wherein the multiplexer selects the first subset of the second set of signal carriers for the routing.
 8. The cable connector apparatus of claim 5, wherein the determining that the first set of signal carriers of the plurality of signal carriers are faulty includes determining that the first set of lane signals are below a signal strength threshold.
 9. The cable connector apparatus of claim 5, wherein the plurality of signal carriers are a plurality of optical fibers.
 10. The cable connector apparatus of claim 9, wherein the plurality of optical fibers are connected to an input/output (I/O) drawer at a first end and the plurality of optical fibers are connected to a root complex at a second end, the I/O drawer including a plurality of endpoints, the plurality of endpoints including the two or more endpoints, and the root complex for use in generating a request on behalf of the processor of the computing device. 